Soft Place to Fall (Navy Book 4)

Chapter 27

Davis stopped the truck in front of a modest bungalow style house that was painted in muted earth tones. Carmen studied the well-manicured lawns of the neighborhood and thought about how she had always wanted to live in a similar neighborhood growing up, one where everyone knew each other. Now she was too much of a city girl to enjoy the silence of such a place.

As they reached the porch the door opened suddenly, and Charlie stood before them, smiling broadly as she welcomed them into the house. Carmen looked around her and noted the hardwood floors and marble fire place, all of it looked just as she had expected it to from the outside. What surprised her were the two snoring masses on a bed at the base of the fireplace. She had never heard so much noise coming from a living thing before.

One of the chunky masses lifted its head and looked at them with a groan before falling back to the floor as if that was all the energy it had.  Charlie followed her gaze and smiled lovingly at the two bulldogs. "You'll have to excuse Athena and Ares, they're both old and move as little as possible."

She led the way back towards the kitchen where Devon and Kate were sitting at the table chopping vegetables.  Carmen had been unsure of what to wear so she had chosen a pair of blue jeans, sneakers, and a soft cotton t-shirt, and she was pleased to see that the other women were dressed similarly.

Greetings were made before Davis was handed a beer and sent to join the men, who were on the back porch manning the grill. 

Carmen was handed a knife and a tomato with instructions to dice it, while the women around her gossiped about nothing in particular. Laura had been given an apron to cover her pretty sundress and told that she was expected to make a few sides, and to Carmen's surprise she nodded and began the task with every appearance of knowing what she was doing.

"I was also surprised when I learned that Laura was an excellent cook." Charlie smiled at Carmen, whose look of shock must have been easy to read. "What about you, can you cook?"

Carmen shook her head. "No, it was never a skill that I was able to develop."

"Some people are naturals, they never need a recipe, they just throw something together and it comes out amazing every time, like Laura." Charlie smiled at her sister.

"The only other person I've met like that is Will," Kate said off-handedly.

Everyone in the room froze, as if Will was an off-limits subject.

"Sorry," Kate blushed as she went back to cutting her onion with a vengeance.

"Will is a very good cook," Carmen agreed, and all eyes turned towards her. She had their attention now.

"Did you get to know him well while he was helping you?"

Carmen shrugged. Part of her didn't want to talk about him at all, but the other part of her realized this was her chance to find out where he was and how she could get in touch with him. Of course, she could just ask Josh. "Not very well."

"I bet he spent the entire time hitting on you, did you fall for it?" Devon asked as she continued to look at the dish that she was layering cookies and whipped cream into.

Carmen couldn't help the smile that came to her lips, and she missed Charlie and Devon's shared look of subdued excitement. "No, I much prefer the serious Will."

"There's a serious Will?" Kate asked with honest surprise.

Devon nodded. "Yes, we used to see more of the serious Will before..."

"Before he was taken hostage and held prisoner," Carmen said softly, shuddering at the words.

"He told you about that?" Charlie asked, looking at her with surprise.